And the answer is......

A Christening gown, underslip and bonnet.   Early on in the year my daughter-in-law asked me if I would like to make the Christening gown for bub and I said that I would have a look at what was entailed and  do some serious thinking and research into the matter.     After consulting pattern books and having a look at some ready mades I roughed up a sketch outlining size, fabric and trim keeping in mind that the dress was not to be over the top with lace and frills.   A month ago the date was set for the Christening so it was now time to make the decision - make or buy.      So off daughter-in-law and I went shopping to see what was available and both of us liked some aspects of a few of the gowns but nothing that said "buy me" so the decision was made to go ahead and make my design.    

The first photo shows the gown and bonnet full length  

This is the back of the gown

A close up of the bodice and bonnet

And lastly the underslip

I really enjoyed designing and making the Christening gown.    I did the final fitting yesterday and pleased to say that everything fitted bub well - now all we have to do is wait for the big day.

No rest for the wicked as they say so my machine and I have now started on winter rompers and some cute little hats.      Back soon with photos of those but the in meantime happy sewing.

A Design Refine

Sometime ago I made some bibs for bub which were a good size but now that she is on solids and drinking water  from a cup something waterproof was called for.      As grandmas do  their best thinking in the early hours of the morning I suddenly had a light bulb moment which saw me at the shops next day buying  a metre of rip stop nylon to go between the two layers of fabric as can be seen below. 

 I dug around in my stash to find some funky fabric.

And it was also an opportunity to use up some of those ever increasing scraps to make some patchwork bibs as can be seen below.

No more soaked tops and singlets after feed time now = one dry baby and one happy mummy who has less washing.  

Onto the next sewing project now.    What do you make with 3 metres of white fabric, 3 metres of Guipure lace, ribbon and pretty buttons in the photo below?

Back real soon to let you know and in the meantime happy sewing.

Paint chip challenge

In September  last year I issued a paint chip challenge to the members of my quilt group whereby each member drew a paint chip containing  5 colours which could be used or they could choose 3 colours from the chip with the addition of black and white/cream and make any item from a mug rug to a kingsize  quilt or anything in between.

I decided to make a taggy for my granddaughter and when rummaging through my stash I found a fabric that had 3 of the colours in the one fabric which I used for the elephant body and used  yellow for the ear and
tail and appliqued  it into a cream background which gave me my 5 colour limit.

Today was our reveal date and as you can see from the photo below there was a variety of items made by the talented members of the group.

It was interesting to listen to the various conversations over the last few months as people discussed their progress and colours that they were working with.  

Thank you ladies for taking part in a fun challenge and working with colours that were outside of your comfort zone.

Thinking thinking of the next challenge now!!!!!!

I will be back soon with some photos of what has occupied my waking hours for the last couple of weeks but in the meantime happy sewing  all.